


The Nightmare Time Is Gonna Get You

by robertstanion



Series: Hatchetober [9]
Category: Nightmare Time - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: (ted doesn't die), Angst, F/M, Hatchetober days 9 10 and 11, Nightmare Time Spoilers, Songfic, a possible happy ending?, and suddenly jay is a ted stan, as is paul, henry hidgens also said "whats so important that you cant spare a few minutes to listen to a bitch", henry hidgens said fuck the british, im doing one on watcher world tomorrow, im just, minor backstory, nightmare time made me so happy, prompt: dream, prompt: parents, prompt: tomorrow, sorry but henry hidgens is still a psycho, technically a songfic, ted is a simp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26955844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robertstanion/pseuds/robertstanion
Summary: Ted makes a break for it before Hidgens can hurt Lucy, and unresolved feelings rise
Relationships: Lucy Stockworth/Ted, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Series: Hatchetober [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949110
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	The Nightmare Time Is Gonna Get You

**Author's Note:**

> wow, not jay becoming a ted stan in 2020 what is this madness, what the fuck. anyway, Nightmare Time came out at 00:00 am for me, and i gasped when ted died. and then i cried because i lowkey ship them. any books i will write based on them will more than likely be no apeman! au, and if it does involve ted being "the ape man," ted's a delusional fuck who has no idea whats going on, like in this one. this is a tester to see how well it does, and to see if i should continue.
> 
> but i may write more of them than mcnamander at some stage, and that says a fucking lot. 
> 
> tws: someone does get murdered. there's also mentions of not eating, but nothing too extreme, just ted being neglected. anyway, i hope u enjoy
> 
> also some of the lyrics are in italics, some are embedded in speech and such.

“This is bullshit!” Ted exclaimed as he flung his bag over his shoulder, the assignment in hand. “How stupid do they think we really are?” He made his voice higher pitched to mock their teacher, Ms Davidson. “We have partnered with a school in England, and for your project, you are to write to your pen pals.”

“Well, I think it sounds nice,” Bill insisted as he walked out, slipping his assignment into his bag.

“Yeah, Ted, it really isn’t _that_ bad…I think it’s cool,” Paul added, and Ted laughed.

“Shut the fuck _up,_ Paul! You can’t befriend that bitch from Hatchetfield High you clearly started swooning for when we went to watch Brigadoon, how in fuck’s name are you supposed to befriend someone like…halfway across the world?” He said sarcastically, and was met with a sigh from Charlotte.

“Don’t get on Paul’s back! Romance is a very complicated thing!” She said before her eyes dropped. “I wanna know who we’re talking to…”

They made their way outside and sat down on the grass in their usual spots. Ted really _did_ think this was bullshit. Why did he need to talk to someone across the seas? He had Paul, and Bill…and Charlotte, who he could treat ten times better than _Sam,_ and Sam’s little buddies, but what did it matter? His sleazish personality made him the laughingstock of the group, and it didn’t help how he flirted with everyone, and he meant, _everyone._ It wasn’t his fault, though. Growing up in a rough environment, with a younger brother nobody had been able to care for, being an asshole was the only thing he knew.

It was influence, after all.

“Who did you get, Ted?” Paul asked, and Ted sighed, opening the brown envelope in front of him. He pulled out a document, skimming his eyes over the paper.

“Lucy Stockworth, aged 15.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“There’s…nothing else said about her at all?”

“Nope.” Ted told them, sliding the document back into the envelope. He chose to ignore how the information he did know about her made a smile form on his face, and how he felt Lucy was going to be different than anybody he’d ever spoken to before.

* * *

A month later, there was a buzz in the class that hadn’t been there before, and Ted knew why. They were getting their letters back from their British counterparts, and everyone seemed to be excited. Ted wasn’t. He’d never written a letter before, so it was incredibly half-assed, which was on point for someone like him. He also hadn’t had much time to do it, because his family were being assholes, and they kept him awake with their arguing. He did write something down, though, and he didn’t care if she didn’t send a letter back to him.

And then one, in a neat, green envelope, with silver ink on the front addressing his name. He’d furrowed his eyebrows and opened it, reading it carefully.

_Ted,_

_I believe I must start this letter with a pleasant hello. I read your letter closely, and from the little that there was, I was able to gather that you seemed to be in a hurry, which I don’t hold you down for. Life can become extremely hectic, sometimes. It appears we have been partnered for this project, so I shall discuss a little about myself to you. You already know my name, being Lucy Stockworth, and I am supposed to be a Duchess, though that life doesn’t appeal to me. My father has been studying the island of Hatchetfield, where I believe you are from, and I would love nothing more than to leave this horrible life behind and be free. We plan to be visiting the island some time soon, though I’m not sure if we’ll be allowed to meet, considering we have only began talking. There isn’t much I can say aside from this, but in the event you have a phone, here is my number._

_I hope you are well, and I will await your letter sometime soon. – Lucy_

Ted smiled and folded the letter back up, beginning to plan out the letter he’d send in return to her. At the same time, Paul looked over, his letter back in his envelope. “Lucy Stockworth?” Paul asked, and Ted shrugged.

“I know nothing about her, she doesn’t matter to me. She won’t matter to me,” he told himself. She couldn’t matter to him. They were just as different as anyone could be. A duchess, and Ted. Ted, who’s family were notorious for being alcoholics, who were one of the poorest in the town, who couldn’t care for themselves or score a job, compared to a duchess. This project was one massive ‘fuck you’ to Ted, and he knew it.

So, he vowed to himself that he wouldn’t try too hard with Lucy. She’d probably forget about him.

* * *

A year on, and that was bullshit. He’d gotten attached, he’d gotten _very_ attached to Lucy. They texted most days, and she never failed to make him smile. He always looked forward to seeing her replies. He didn’t know what she looked like, and he’d never heard her voice, but he had a rough idea of what she was like all together.

Long brown hair that was curled at the bottom, with bright brown eyes. She had a wise smile that never faded, and always wore the highest branded clothes she could get, though her status didn’t affect her. She was kind, and she was generous, and she was overall amazing…and Ted realised he had a crush on her.

They hadn’t even met, and he gained a crush on her. He gained a crush on someone he most likely would never meet, and even then, if they did, how would she ever like someone like _him._ Him, who was in tatters all of the time, who was on his way to being an alcoholic, who couldn’t keep in a relationship. It wasn’t like he could tell anyone about his crush, because nobody knew who Lucy Stockworth was, aside from him. He slept around, and he did as soon as he confirmed with himself he had feelings for his “pen pal.” It wasn’t ideal for how his feelings for Charlotte were dying down, and fucking _Lucy_ comes into his life-

And then Lucy tells him he’ll be in Hatchetfield for Christmas, and she’s coming with a friend, and not her parents. The friend was named Jonathan Brisby. Ted didn’t know about the significance of him yet, but Lucy was coming tomorrow, and he had to do the most he could to make her feel welcome to the island.

* * *

Tomorrow came, for tomorrow always came, and Lucy had texted him so many times during the night. Well, it was the night for him. He asked her where she wanted to meet, before realising it was a stupid decision considering she’d never been to any tourist places alone before. She often came to find the Hatchetfield Ape-Man with her parents, and Jonathan, though this time was the first time she wanted to go alone, and she’d never been to central Hatchetfield before. She’d only ever been to the Hatchetfield Witchwood, and she had never been to what made Hatchetfield, Hatchetfield.

Well, what made Hatchetfield home to the generation that tried too hard to escape. There was Watcher World, a business slash funfair that remained intact, and had been since the founding of the island, though Ted never saw anyone approaching or leaving it. There was The Lakeside Mall, somewhere with the “classiest” stores inside, but it made an excellent hangout spot. But nothing was quite as good as Beanies.

Beanies was shitty. Yeah, the interior was nice, but the coffee was _disgraceful_ and should be called “cement.” But, for broke ass teens on the island, it was a nice getaway. It combined Sycamore with Hatchetfield High, which meant that Paul could speak with Emma if he made an attempt to, and nobody batted an eye. It was brilliant.

So that’s where Ted settled on meeting Lucy. At Beanies. And, somehow, the news spread to his friend group, and they insisted on coming as well. They got there at around three in the afternoon and took their seats as Ted sent Lucy the location and hoped she didn’t get lost. He drummed his hands against his legs before the door opened, and the bell above it chimed.

Ted turned his head, and his breath was taken from his chest. Aside from the hair, which was shorter than he’d imagined, but it suited her, and it suited her well. There was another boy beside her, who was dressed in some sort of suit, and Ted felt himself shrink into his hand me down clothes. He felt pathetic compared to her, but then he was reminded she was coming from a wealthy family.

He didn’t move, and Emma elbowed him in the side, and he cleared his throat as he looked up to her. “Lucy?” He asked, and his voice managed to waver.

She turned to face him, and his heart stopped again. She truly was breath-taking. “Ted?”

“That’s me,” he said and smiled as he stood. He hadn’t expected her to scurry over to him and embrace him tightly. He laughed and hugged her back, but nothing else came out of it. “It’s…so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too!” She said and smiled, her accent seeping through her teeth.

His heart fluttered again, but he swallowed it down. “Uh, Lucy, these are my friends. They pestered me to come, that’s Paul, Paul’s a fuckin’ dork, excuse him. That’s Bill, that’s Charlotte, and that’s Emma. I mentioned to them?”

“Ah, yes, I remember! Ted, this is Jonathan. He was forced to escort me,” she said and slid into the empty seat beside him, and Jonathan, with an offended look on his face, mumbled something before sitting opposite Lucy, next to Bill. “Goodness, I could never even dream that my parents would ever allow me to come to Hatchetfield alone, well, without the assistance of them, and they did! This is-“

“It isn’t as magical as you’d think,” Ted said and smiled as he glanced up at the menu. “Care for a drink?”

* * *

They met up on a yearly basis after that, and things went well. Ted managed to rent a shitty flat, so he got his escape from his parents, and Lucy began to become who she wanted to be. They met up in Hatchetfield, and while she went on her elaborate hunt for The Hatchetfield Ape-Man, he followed.

Things changed, when Ted hit 20. He’d decided that the next time she was in town, he were to ask her for coffee. He’d done long distance before, and there was nothing that could stop him from having a relationship with her, either not one that he’d wanted for so long. The usual happened, and they met up in Beanies, and they took their seats, when she broke her news to him, and the words pulsed in his ears, and he almost became nauseous.

_Jonathan and I are together. He is my boyfriend, and he treats me well._

She smiled when she said it, but there was a sadness behind her eyes that he couldn’t depict why it was there. He hid his own woe and nodded. She was happy. Jonathan would take care of her, even if he was so, so jealous. He wanted to have been that man, and he’d failed his own task. He couldn’t do one simple thing, he couldn’t have swooped in earlier and grabbed her, but she was a lady, and she wasn’t his.

_She wasn’t his._

When they said their goodbyes at the end of the week, Ted cried. He cried for a while, a long while actually, as he almost mourned what he and Lucy never had. It was shitty, it was pathetic, but he’d really wanted something with her. As long as Jonathan treated her well, then there would be no problems. There shouldn’t be any problems…

But they lost contact. Eventually, they stopped texting, and letters stopped coming through. Ted became a lost man, a drunk, a marriage wrecker. Instead of letting himself get over his past relationship, he forced himself into more. He fucked around, he became careless, and he became the biggest sleaze Hatchetfield ever saw. He fell for Charlotte, and they hooked up the most, but he knew he didn’t belong to Charlotte, for sometimes, there’d be marks on her neck and chest that he hadn’t given her. They never spoke about it, though. They hooked up while she sought comfort in someone else’s arms, touch starved.

As he grew, and got a job, and became a tecchie at CCRP, Lucy never left his mind. He thought about her occasionally, and he tried to see if she had any social media to regain contact, but she never did. She stopped coming to Beanies at Christmases, and he stopped seeing her smile.

He missed her.

Somehow along the line he became involved with Henry Hidgens’ scheme. To lure Lucy in, to become the Hatchetfield Ape Man, for Lucy’s money. Ted didn’t know it was about the money until too late, so he agreed to be the Ape-Man. It was pathetic, how he stood naked in front of her, but it was _her,_ and she was just as beautiful as she was years ago. He was 36 by that point, which meant she was a Duchess, from what he heard Hidgens talking about, but he didn’t know if age and titles went alongside each other.

Things were going so perfect, and then they didn’t. Hidgens fired a gun, and Ted, fully dressed after attempting to propose to Lucy, grabbed her hand and ran. He slammed the door in his face and took both of her hands in his. “Listen to me, Lucy. It’s me, it’s Ted and-“

“What?” She asked and looked up at him, but he shook his head.

“Right now, we need to run. He’s a mentally unstable man, Luce, he killed Jonathan.”

“What?!” She asked, and there was a new sadness in her eyes he hadn’t recognised in anybody but himself.

Heartbreak, or…was it?

“Just take my hand, and run with me. We’ll be okay,” he told her, and with a gentle tug of her hand, pulled her through the house.

_You, no need to run away_

Back in the distance, he heard the door clatter open, and he heard the cackle of Henry Hidgens following them, with a warning shot following in suit. Ted was already mapping out an escape in his mind. Through the Witchwood forest, back to the town, back to Beanies. He hadn’t realised he was assumed missing by the citizens of Hatchetfield, but as he went through his plan, he came to the conclusion it would make a lot more sense for him to become presumed missing, or dead. This was Hatchetfield, crazy shit happened all the time, but this? Going missing at the hands of a crazy biology professor? That was something new.

_You little run away_

He pushed open the heavy doors, and looked into Lucy’s eyes. “Don’t hold back, just run.” He slotted the ring he’d attempted to propose to her with back into his pocket as the shots got closer. He wouldn’t even attempt to steal Henry’s car; he was just going to get Lucy through the woods. His chest was burning, considering he had only had to do minimal exercise for the past however long he’d been there, but this wasn’t for him. This wasn’t for the joy he’d experience when he’d see Paul, or Bill, or Charlotte, even Emma, but it was for getting Lucy back to where she needed to be. Back to England.

_‘Cause the nightmare will get you soon_

Shortly after the door had closed, he scooped Lucy up into his arms, continuing to run. He’d seen the maps of where Hidgens had placed his traps, and it was easier if he did it the hero way. She uttered a confused sound, but he shook his head.

_No need to contemplate_

“He sets traps around his place. It ain’t the first time he’s killed someone, trust me. He murdered his friends.”

“He did what?!” She asked, and fear leaked into her voice. “Why?”

“I don’t know. One of them was his own spouse. I have no fuckin idea why I agreed to this with that asshole.” He shook his head, a discipline for himself, as he continued to run. “You’re okay?”

“I think so? I had nothing valuable on me,” came her reply as she settled her head against Ted’s chest. “I had no idea you were so-“

“Yeah, he made me grow a beard, if it were my decision, it’d still be the moustache.”

_How deeply that you’re afraid_

“Moustache?”

“Yeah. I grew it when I was 21. It helped hide the alcohol a little bit.”

“Alcohol? You were never one to drink?”

He sighed as he ran, his stomach forming a stitch on his side. “We really need to have a catch up, but my main priority right now is getting you to safety.”

“And what about you, Ted?”

Ted shook his head. “It doesn’t matter about me. Let’s just get you home.”

_‘Cause your life is a waning moon_

“Oh, goodness…” she said and looked up to him. “I must message my escort to take me back to England then…if only there were a way to stay here…I fell in love with the island as soon as I stepped foot on it. It wasn’t just about the Ape-Man, though he always intrigued me.”

“Are you talking about the literal Ape-Man or me-“

“Why not both?”

_It’s a matter of time, a matter of time_

Their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an engine driving up behind them, and if Ted wasn’t sprinting before, then he was now. “Until your escort can come back to Hatchetfield, I’ll take you back to my apartment if you want. It ain’t nothin’ special, I’m only a tech guy at a computer company, but it’s good enough for a stay for a couple days. And it’s safe.”

“That sounds…alright.” She said, and her smile radiated for what seemed like miles around. She almost buried herself into Ted’s hold, but she didn’t. It seemed like she did though, and it gave Ted that final burst he’d been looking for to get her out of the woods, that never seemed to end.

_Don’t need to look far to find it_

The engine came closer, and Ted was becoming weaker. He couldn’t really remember the last time he’d eaten something valuable to him. He was much thinner than he should be, and his head was spinning, but he had to get Lucy to safety. He couldn’t let her meet the same fate as Jonathan had.

Maybe Jonathan had been a good guy for her. He couldn’t tell, and he wouldn’t bother asking her about it, but from an overheard conversation from the outside of the door, he believed she’d only wanted him for the money so she could continuously return to Hatchetfield in further years to come. An idea sprung into his head, and he looked down to her. “Luce?”

“Yeah?”

“If you could have an option, would you leave England and stay in Hatchetfield? Permanently?”

“Oh, I would give _anything_ to leave behind my snobbish life…I spent the fortune on coming back to Hatchetfield and…gosh, I’ve missed it.”

_Every story you tell we’re in pursuit_

“Then stay. Permanently. With me, until you can get back on your feet. I can give you advice on the best jobs around, and the nicest houses. It’s Pinebrook, by the way. If you wanna go live somewhere, fancy, go to Pinebrook. It’s a ten-minute walk away from the office I’m workin’ in. Fuckin’ Linda Monroe lives there, but of _course_ she does.”

“Linda Monroe?”

“She’s been named the Karen of Hatchetfield. She’s Perkins’ aunt.”

“Emma?”

“Yeah!”

_It’s all in your mind, it’s all in your mind_

He could see the outskirts of the forest, finally, and he was about to pass out, when he felt Lucy shift in his arms. “Shit! Shit, Ted! He’s closer than we originally thought!” She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and only _then_ did she bury into Ted’s chest. He hoped she didn’t feel it speed up, but it was already heading abnormally fast due to the amount of running he’d done.

_Look behind you._

He made the mistake of peering back over his shoulder. There was a manic smile that was sewn on to his face, and his eyes were wild and bright. With the distraction, Ted’s breath hitched, but simultaneously, he tripped over, and Lucy tumbled from his arms. He fell to the ground, hard, and he felt the twigs scratch at his face, and he looked for Lucy, panicking. “L-Lucy!”

_Hey, what was that?_

“Boo.” A chilling whisper sent an uncomfortable feeling down Ted’s spine. He turned again, and caught a glimpse of Hidgens, but he soon grabbed Ted’s head, forcing it forward, pressing the barrel of something, presumably a gun, to his temple. Lucy was out of sight, but he heard faint running in the distance. Maybe she escaped, but he wasn’t getting out of that forest alive, and it was something he now needed to accept.

“What did I tell you, Ted?” Hidgens tutted, crouched on the floor, as he started to sing. “ _You can run, but are you fast enough? You can hide, but I will find you.”_ He felt Ted’s breathing become shaky, an acceptance of his fate, and he could feel the terror that was sent through him as he closed his eyes. _“Close your eyes If you don’t dose off. Hold your breath so I don’t hear you. The trail of tears that you will leave me, will lead me straight to those that fear me. You can run, if I don’t catch you, but the Nightmare Time is gonna get you.”_

A bang sounded, and Ted braced himself for impact, for the pain, for the blood, but it didn’t come. The barrel of the gun, originally pressed to his head, left, and a cold sensation replaced it. He swallowed thickly and shaking, wiped his eyes, not turning round, just listening.

“Take every precaution, babe. She says he’s around here somewhere.”

“Ted?”

“Yeah he’s…fuckin’…Jesus Christ…Why the woods, Hidge? We were rooting for you. We were all rooting for you!” An angry voice shouted through the trees, and it was powerful enough for them all to rustle. The sigh followed in the form of a breeze, that swept through Ted’s hair. He heard someone else grimace.

“You think we need caution tape? If we hit him in just the right spot, he’s dead.”

“Nah. We got time to bury the body-“

“Emma!”

“What!” The other voice said, followed by a laugh, before she gasped. “Holy shit, Paul, what if I just killed my fuckin’ professor. How am I gonna start a pot farm now?!”

“ _That’s_ what you’re worried about? He could be dead; Ted could be dead!” Another voice, a sweeter voice, told them, and Ted recognised it as Charlotte.

Wait.

Paul, Emma and Charlotte were nearby, and he was about to be found. He looked a wreck, he felt a wreck, and he didn’t want them to see him like this. To them, he was just a sleaze, and in a way, he liked it. He liked to be seen as strong, he liked to be seen as nothing so in the event something happened to him, he’d be able to be not cause damage to anyone, and allow them to move on without grief. He’d always acted like an asshole to them, even throughout high school, so why were they looking for him?

“Do you guys even understand the danger that you are in? Or…were in? Well, what Ted was in?” Lucy asked as her voice became nearer, footsteps beginning to sound clearer than before. They were beginning to get nearer.

“No, he’s been missing for months. No phone, no nothing.” Paul said simply, as the footsteps got louder

“He had a phone at the house?”

“Maybe Hidge didn’t give him the pass then,” Emma said. Her voice was too loud. He needed to run now, run and pretend everything was okay. He hauled himself up on to his legs, and went to walk, but he felt like lead. He stumbled and fell, and was caught by a pair of arms.

“Woah, there, bud. You’re standing on shaky ground.” Bill. Bill was there too. Ted looked up to him, helpless, and Bill’s smile warmed him up. He hadn’t realised how cold he’d been until then, but something prompted him to fling his arms around Bill tightly, almost afraid to let go. “Guys, I found him! And Hidgens!”

Footsteps turned to running as they approached him, and Emma practically screamed. “Fuck I killed my biology professor, fucking shit dammit, I’m goin’ to jail for life now.”

“Emma, I don’t think you were the one who killed him. The bullet was fired from too far away, it couldn’t have hit him.”

“You’re talking nerdy to me again, Matthews. I might just fuck you against a tree here on out.”

“Wow, pleasant, Perkins.” Ted mumbled as he looked at his friends, who seemed better than ever before. “Nothing’s changed.”

“Am I seeing Jesus, or is that Theodore?” Emma asked Paul, who smiled and went red slightly from repressing laughter.

“Lucy came and got us, Ted. She found Beanies. We were lucky to find you when we did.”

_I’m in your head and you know it. Nothing that you do about it_

“Where is Lucy?” Ted asked, and looked to the side, to see someone, covered in golden brown fur, with almost humane eyes, just taller than Paul was, and it was holding a gun.

“Guys, this is Chumby. I think…I think he just saved Ted’s life…” Lucy said and smiled as she scratched it’s chin, and the Ape-Man, Chumby, purred in return. How bizarre, Ted thought, but shook his head.

“So, the Ape-Man was fuckin’ real…” Emma said and shrugged. “Well, babe, I don’t gotta go to prison for murder now-“

“Let’s just focus on getting Ted back to the city. Can someone go grab the car?” Paul asked, and Charlotte nodded.

“I will!”

_It’s all by design, all by design_

Charlotte came back with the car soon enough, that miraculously held all the people there, and Lucy looked whimsically out the window, music pounding through the speakers. It was something that Emma and Paul liked listening to, and usually Ted would have made a sarcastic comment, but he couldn’t. He’d missed music that wasn’t show tunes, or the soundtrack to fuckin’ Workin’ Boys. “Bye Chumby- wait, where’d he go?” She asked, and Ted shrugged. She sighed, shaking her head, looking to him. “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“Staying with you…permanently?”

“Until you get back on your feet, then yeah.”

“But…” she took a breath. “I never loved Jonathan, Ted. He was a nice guy, but he was only a suitor to me. He wanted to marry me for my title, and I wanted to marry him…for the money…though I never allowed my feelings for someone else to fully extinguish.”

“And would that be me?” He asked sarcastically, but she said yes, and she meant it.

“I had no choice but to say yes to Jonathan’s offer to date me. He was a wealthy man, and my family pressured me to. If it was my choice…I’d have asked you first in the Christmas before we drifted apart…I apologise if I hurt you, and I understand if you-“

“Luce,” Ted said and looked at her. “I feel the same way. When I found out you were dating someone else, I broke, and I became an alcoholic for a while, I slept around…it wasn’t fun…I didn’t intend for us to lose touch, and it pained me when I noticed your car driving past and yet you weren’t driving to see me anymore, but you were your own person and because I loved you…I let you go…”

“But I feel the same way, I still do. Ted, if you would like a relationship, or to try, I will be more than-“

He cut her off with a kiss. With the music blaring, and the others trapped in their own conversation, they didn’t notice them doing their own thing. They didn’t care. Ted cared. Ted cared about Lucy more than anyone. He cupped her cheek, and kissed her softly, not like he kissed anyone else, because nobody else was Lucy. He’d hooked up with guys and girls, but Lucy was different. Lucy was special. He felt Lucy kiss him back, and his heart fluttered once more. He wished he could have encapsuled them in the kiss for eternity, but life didn’t work like that, and they pulled away just as the car stopped.

“There you go, Ted. Be safe. I’ll tell Mr Davidson you’re okay, but you need time to recover.”

“Thanks, Paul.” He said and smiled as he got out the car, letting Lucy out after him before he closed it. He found the spare key under a plant pot and let himself in, and was hit with the familiarity of home, and Lucy was there now. “You really wanna stay with me forever?”

“I wouldn’t think of anyone else who I’d want to,” she admitted, and Ted placed his hands on her waist, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and kissed her, with smiles dancing around them. Things had been rough until that point, and Ted needed recovery, but a dream had came true, and he’d ensure it stayed positive.

_You can run but, are you fast enough?  
You can hide, but I will find you  
Close your eyes if you don’t dose off  
Hold your breath so I don’t hear you  
The trail of tears that you will leave me  
Will lead me straight to those that fear me  
You can run if I don’t catch you  
But the Nightmare Time is gonna get you_

_Just run away if you want, if you dare  
The Nightmare’s gonna get you  
Just run away if you want, if you dare  
The Nightmare’s gonna get you  
Just run away if you want, if you dare  
Daddy’s gonna get you  
You can run if I don’t catch you  
But the Nightmare Time already caught you_

**Author's Note:**

> blinky plz shoot me in the eye
> 
> oh my god we got a second set of sniggles. i need to make more sniggle friend names fuck now i have moon junior, stone junior, pob junior-
> 
> also buff henry hidgens, thoughts?
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated!! this is definitely something new and uh yEah


End file.
